


I got lost along the way

by swallowthewhale



Series: Killervibe Week [24]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25998508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Caitlin becomes a supervillain for extra credit since her doctoral committee is low key three of the city’s supervillains. But then she meets Central City’s hero, who is cute and charming and idealistic. And damn, extra credit is so not worth this. But damn, grad school is expensive and the job market is competitive.Killervibe Week 2020: High School/College AU
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Caitlin Snow
Series: Killervibe Week [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/752097
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12
Collections: Killervibedaily Events





	I got lost along the way

Caitlin tugs uncomfortably at the high, itchy neck of the black catsuit her advisor had lent her. With the white hair and blue eyes that her powers lend her, it’s enough of a disguise, if an unfashionable one. Sighing, she pulls down the matching black mask and slips around the corner into the lobby of Palmer Technologies. A quick blast of ice knocks out the security pad on the door and there isn’t even a security guard to knock out. Caitlin looks over the security monitors quickly to make sure the route is clear, then calmly takes the elevator down to the bottom floor. It’s easy enough to cool her body down to room temperature to get past the lasers, and then a bit of ice to lock the scale underneath her prize. Well, not _her_ prize, but what she’s here for nonetheless. Caitlin tucks the small device into a pocket at her hip and turns to go back the way she came, only to find someone leaning casually against the door to the safe room.

“Vibe,” Caitlin says, letting the cold pitch her voice up.

“Hey, frosty,” he says, smirking. “Haven’t seen you around before.”

Caitlin doesn’t deign that with a response. “Get out of the way,” she snaps, already scanning for another way out.

Vibe notices. “Only one way in or out.” He lifts his hands in front of him, a warning, Caitlin knows, from having seen him knock people over with blasts from those hands. “You gotta get past me.”

They tousle until Vibe ends up hovering over Caitlin, his hair falling like a curtain over their faces and his eyes unreadable behind his goggles. “Why are you doing this?” He whispers.

Caitlin closes her eyes. “I don’t have a choice.” She shoves him off with a wave of icy air and escapes out the door, wincing at the slam of his body against the far wall.

He doesn’t seem hurt beyond repair, though, because he calls after her, “Your outfit is terrible, by the way!”

Caitlin makes it all the way back to her car before she realizes why Vibe hadn’t followed her - the device isn’t in her pocket anymore.

* * *

Eva McCullogh taps her fingers against her desk when Caitlin reports back, her nails clicking loudly against the wood. “Well it was only your first time,” she says cooly. “I suppose we should have prepared you for the hero squad. No matter. But Palmer Tech is a bust if Vibe caught you, we’ll have to find an alternative.”

Caitlin stays quiet, hands clasped in front of her as she stands just inside of the closed door and listens as Dr. McCullogh and the rest of her committee deliberate on what to do next.

“We needed that tech,” Dr. Wells says irritably. “There’s nothing else like it.”

“Making one would certainly take too long,” Dr. DeVoe agrees. He narrows his eyes at Wells. “Unless you can get your little protégée to help.”

Dr. Wells scoffs. “Allen wouldn’t do it, even if he doesn’t know what it’s for.” He drums his fingers on his knees, humming thoughtfully. “But…”

Caitlin follows Dr. Wells up to the top floor of the building where his office and the biotechnology labs are. He bypasses his own lab to go down to the end of the hall where he unlocks a windowless door. There’s a young man bent over one of the benches, dark hair tucked behind his ears and lab goggles pushed up on his forehead.

Caitlin feels a surge of familiarity that makes her uneasy before he turns to grin at them and she recognizes him from some of her classes.

“Hey, Dr. Wells, Caitlin,” Cisco Ramon says cheerfully. “What brings you around here?”

Cisco, Caitlin recalls suddenly, is Tony Stark’s newest rising genius. Stark is a legend around CCU. Half of the student body swears that his course is the best on campus, and the other half swears he doesn’t even _teach_ a course since it’s so impossible to get into. Caitlin has only met Stark once herself when he blew in and out of Dr. McCullogh’s office while Caitlin was meeting with her.

“Ramon,” Dr. Wells says shortly. “I need you and Ms. Snow to work on a special project. You can both consider it a replacement for the paper you would have written for my class.” He casts an uninterested gaze over both of them. “Ms. Snow will fill you in on the details.” And with that, he sweeps out of the room.

Cisco raises his eyebrows at Caitlin who gives him half a shrug. “I can email you the details,” she offers. “It looks like you’re in the middle of something.”

Cisco glances down at the sauntering iron in his hand. He chuckles. “I’m always in the middle of something. That doesn’t stop Dr. Wells.” He puts it down and yanks the goggles off his head to walk around the bench to the computer.

Caitlin offers him the USB drive Dr. DeVoe had given her with the plans as he logs in. “They’re incomplete, apparently. We’ll have to work out any issues with the formula before we even build a prototype delivery mechanism.”

Cisco pulls up the documents and frowns at them, fingers drumming absently on the bench. “What’d you say this does again?”

Caitlin quirks a smile. “I didn’t. It’s a device that would-” She stops short, suddenly horrified at what she’s doing when faced with Cisco’s kind, honest gaze. Caitlin swallows. “It’s a meta cure. For anyone who would want one.”

Cisco flinches. “A meta cure?” He says uncertainly. “Are you really sure that’s a good idea?”

Caitlin clasps her hands behind her back, wringing her fingers together tightly enough for them to go numb. “It was Dr. McCullogh’s idea,” Caitlin lies. “She thought it might be good for all the people who don’t want their powers or can’t control them.”

Cisco’s gaze narrows. “Isn’t Palmer Tech working on something similar?”

Caitlin gulps. “Yes, I think so, but I don’t know much about it.” Another lie. Their partnership is off to a horrendous start. Hopefully Cisco will never find out why Caitlin really needs this device.

“Well,” Cisco says slowly, studying Caitlin’s face for a long moment. She can hardly breathe. “Should we get started?”

Caitlin exhales shakily. “Yes.”

It turns out that Cisco and Caitlin work extraordinarily well together. In fact, Caitlin has never worked so well with anyone ever before. Their expertise blends together so seamlessly that they have a several test formulas by the end of the week. Caitlin has her own little set-up in a corner of Cisco’s lab, which he apparently doesn’t have to share with anyone else since Stark doesn’t have any other grad students, and her office mates joke that she must be dead since she’s never there anymore.

In fact, Caitlin moves half of her collection of textbooks up to the lab and she and Cisco alternate between huddling over one of their computers in the lab or taking frantic notes on Cisco’s phone as they troubleshoot on the way to and from Jitters for coffee runs. The only incongruity is their work schedules. Cisco, Caitlin learns, prefers to work long into the night while Caitlin likes to come in early in the morning. But Caitlin hardly notices the disruption to her schedule, as invested in the project as she’s become, and any annoyance at having to stay late is mitigated by how quickly she finds herself becoming friends with Cisco.

He’s not the type of person Caitlin is normally drawn to. He’s a huge nerd and makes lots of references that fly over Caitlin’s head. He’s funny and optimistic and incredibly smart, and under any other circumstances Caitlin probably would have gone shy and never have gotten to know him. On the other hand, though, Cisco is the kind of person who decides that he’s going to be friends with you and lets nothing stop him, so maybe he’s _exactly_ the kind of person Caitlin likes.

Caitlin’s dozing off over the latest round of diagnostics from their prototype on a Friday evening when Cisco’s shout startles her chin off her hand.

“Yahtzee!”

“Hmm?” Caitlin looks over to see him beaming at her, the a vial of the latest serum in hand.

“It works!”

Caitlin blinks at him.

“Caitlin, it works!”

She jolts up from her chair and hurries over to look at the readouts on his tablet. Sure enough, the new formula works. Caitlin yips in excitement, throwing her arms around Cisco’s shoulders in a hug.

He laughs loudly and swings her around by the waist. “We can move on to the delivery mechanism now!”

Caitlin rolls her eyes. “That’s the only part you’re interested in,” she teases.

He nudges her shoulder. “Admit it, you’re excited.”

Caitlin laughs, “Of course, Cisco.”

He carefully cleans up, saving the results from the test and putting away the vials scattered over the bench. “I think,” he says over his shoulder, “This calls for celebration.”

Caitlin tilts her head.

Cisco points at her dramatically. “Ice cream?”

“Perfect.”

* * *

Getting the delivery mechanism designed and made takes even less time that the serum, and just a month after Caitlin’s failed attempt to steal Palmer Tech’s device, she and Cisco have made their own.

Caitlin promises Cisco that they’ll celebrate finishing the device after she delivers it to Dr. Wells. She feels sick.

Her hands shake as she hands the device over to Dr. Wells. He inspects it. “Well,” he says blandly. “You saw the original, Ms. Snow. How does it compare.”

Caitlin opens and shuts her mouth, startled. “It’s smaller,” she says slowly. “And Cisco made a lot of improvements on the original designs. It should be more effective and less painful than the original.”

“Good,” Dr. Wells says, passing the device back to her. “Now we test it.”

Caitlin shies away from it. “What?” She asks warily.

“Vibe, I think, would make a good first subject, since it was his interference that caused us problems.” He smirks at Caitlin. “Go on, Snow. It’s still your responsibility to finish this.”

Caitlin takes the device back and walks out of the room, her whole body numb. Dr. McCullogh had promised no killing when Caitlin agreed to this whole arrangement, and stealing away someone’s meta powers feels far too close for comfort. Dr. McCullogh might disagree, though, given the greedy look in her eyes when Dr. Wells suggested Vibe as a test subject. Caitlin hides away the device in her bag, texts Cisco to apologize for cancelling their celebration plans, and goes home to change into the black catsuit she’d hoped to not have to wear again.

It’s a dark night with the clouds covering the moon and stars, and Caitlin slinks through the shadows of alleyways in search of Vibe’s favorite haunts. She finally spots a figure on the broken and charred Star Labs roof. Caitlin might have missed him if the street lights hadn’t glinted off Vibe’s googles.

There’s no use in trying to sneak up on him. He has a nearly omniscient habit of knowing his opponent’s moves before they make them and is notoriously hard to surprise. Indeed, as Caitlin opens the door to the roof, he doesn’t startle, just glances over his shoulder before turning back to looking out over the city.

Caitlin approaches slowly, the device gripped tightly in her hand.

“Frost,” Vibe says quietly, his voice nearly snatched away by the wind.

“Vibe,” Caitlin says, unable to keep her voice from wavering, even with the resonance added by her powers.

“You don’t want to do this,” Vibe says. “It won’t end well.”

Caitlin inhales shakily, frozen in place. “I don’t have a choice.”

He laughs hollowly. “There’s always a choice.” Vibe turns suddenly, face twisted into an intense scowl. “ _You_ have a choice.”

She tries to swallow against a dry mouth. “I don’t,” she whispers.

Vibe sighs, dropping his head so his hair swings across his face, and scrubs a hand across his forehead.

That gesture, it’s _so_ familiar…

Whatever he says next, Caitlin doesn’t hear over the blood roaring past her ears. The sudden realization hurts like a punch in the chest. She tries desperately to suck in a breath past the growing terror. It can’t be him. It _can’t be._

“Hey,” he says, his hands on her shoulders now and face full of concern.

Caitlin can’t believe she didn’t see it before.

That face, that hair, those movements, are all so familiar because she knows him. And yet, without seeing his eyes, Cisco’s bright, cheerful personality is so well obscured that the new friend who burst into her life all at once is now virtually a stranger. And without seeing his eyes, there’s still a chance, a slight chance…

“Cisco,” Caitlin says hoarsely, her powers dropping away to leave her hair a damp honey blond, her eyes brown behind the mask, and her voice dropping to its normal pitch.

He recoils.

Caitlin drops the device with a clatter and backs away. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, and flees.

Caitlin secludes herself at home, avoiding the increasingly irritated emails from Dr. McCullogh and ignoring Cisco’s texts. She goes back to campus only once, sneaking into the Stark lab to retrieve her things early in the morning on a Sunday, then leaves her key to the room on top of Cisco’s tablet.

She dives back into her own research that she’d been neglecting, writes the paper for Dr. Wells’ class, and bakes so many cookies and cupcakes and bread that even her neighbor with two little kids, who always happily takes Caitlin’s extras, asks if she’s okay.

Caitlin makes it two weeks before there’s a knock on her door, and expecting one of her neighbor’s kids, opens the door without looking to find Cisco. His hands are tucked into the pockets of his CCU hoodie and he stares at her with a grim determination.

With a sigh, Caitlin steps aside to let him in.

Cisco checks out her apartment unsubtly, no doubt noticing the overstuffed bookcase next to the dusty TV and the obvious lack of photos.

Caitlin bites her lip nervously, watching him spin around to take in the apartment before his gaze settles back on her.

“What’s going on?” Cisco asks bluntly. “You disappeared after we finished the meta cure. No one has seen you on campus and you haven’t even been to class.”

She looks away. Not going to class was probably a dead giveaway that something was wrong. She’s never missed a class in her life. “I was sick,” Caitlin says lamely.

“Uh huh,” Cisco says, doubt clear in his voice. “So sick you couldn’t text me back?”

Caitlin flushes, tucking her arms around her stomach protectively. “I can’t, Cisco.”

His eyes narrow and he steps closer. “Can’t what, Caitlin?”

“I can’t do this!” Caitlin exclaims, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realizes she’d spoken so bluntly.

Cisco flinches away from her.

“I can’t be your friend,” she admits much more quietly, tears rolling silently down her cheeks. “I’m a terrible person.”

“You aren’t,” Cisco says immediately.

She shakes her head, desperate for him to understand without having to actually say it. “Cisco, I-”

“You’re Frost,” he interrupts sharply.

Caitlin gapes at him.

His voice gentles. “And I’m Vibe.”

He’s looking at her so softly, warmth and understanding in his eyes that Caitlin can’t even fathom deserving. He brushes his fingers over her wet cheeks.

“Cait, you’re a good person.”

She shakes her head again.

Cisco’s hand slips down to her arm, tugging it away so he can lace their fingers together. “You kinda chose the worst people possible for your committee,” he jokes kindly. “You were right, you didn’t have any good options.”

Caitlin can’t tear her eyes away from the open affection in his gaze.

“But, in the end, you made the right choice.”

“I did?” Caitlin whispers.

“Well,” Cisco laughs. “You didn’t try to take away my powers, did you?”

“But-”

Cisco kisses her, cutting off her protest as he slides his free hand into her hair. He wraps their joined hands around her waist and Caitlin clutches his hoodie as she melts into the kiss.

“Cisco-”

He kisses her again until she can’t remember her argument anymore. “Caitlin,” he whispers against her mouth. “You deserve a second chance. Let me help you.”

How could Caitlin possibly say no to throwing away the uncomfortable black catsuit and to stopping the churning guilt in her stomach and to the man who probably knew the truth the entire time and helped her anyway? “Okay,” Caitlin says, laughing in giddy relief even as fresh tears spill from her eyes. “Okay.”

Cisco laughs too and untangles their hands to sweep her into a tight hug. “Good,” he whispers into her hair. “Now I can make you a new suit.”


End file.
